SECRETARY'S REPORT 161 



staff of the Institution is well attested by the many research workers 

 from other agencies of the Government and by visiting scientists and 

 other scholars, from abroad as well as from institutions in this country, 

 who make reference use of the library's resources. 



By interlibrary loans, too, the library's resources are further 

 extended, and 1,431 publications were borrowed by 90 different 

 libraries during the year. The library, in turn, borrowed 1,482 

 jjublications from the Library of Congress — many of them Smith- 

 sonian Deposit copies — and 441 from other libraries, chiefly from 

 the Department of Agriculture, the Geological Survey, and the Armed 

 Forces Medical Library. 



More than 15,000 reference questions were answered in the reference 

 and circulation section. The chief of the section cooperated with the 

 Library of Congress in making a comparative check and relisting 

 of the semipermanent loan records of Smithsonian Deposit and other 

 publications borrowed from the Library of Congress for continued 

 use by the Institution. These records covered many years, discrepan- 

 cies in them were numerous, and the revision and corrected listing 

 of the many different items was an important piece of work. 



Funds permitted the binding of 1,917 volumes for the library. A 

 large binding backlog still exists. 



Most welcome relief to the very severe overcrowding of the shelves 

 in the main library in the Natural History Building was afforded 

 by the erection of a deck in room 28, and the installation of steel stacks 

 providing shelf room for about 17,000 volumes. This made it possible 

 to do away with the double shelving, use of tops of cases, window 

 sills, and other makeshift means of keeping the overflow of the shelves 

 off the floor. The improved appearance of the library is conspicuous. 

 Overcrowding in other units of the library was not affected, and the 

 over-all housing problem continues to be serious. The National Col- 

 lection of Fine Arts library, especially, is acutely in need of relief. 



TJnderstaffing continued to keep the bureau libraries closed to all 

 but staff members of the bureaus, except by special arrangement. The 

 Bureau of American Ethnology was perhaps the greatest sufferer from 

 lack of full-time reference and custodial library service, for its collec- 

 tions on the Indians of North America are unique in many respects, 

 and they are much depended upon by other agencies of the Govern- 

 ment, as well as by independent scholars, for authoritative informa- 

 tion on many matters, sometimes involving very important legal 

 decisions. 



